The Impact of Public Ownership, Profits, and Competition on Number of Newsroom Employees and Starting Salaries in Mid-Sized Daily Newspapers

Abstract

This study of seventy-seven dailies between 25,000 and 100,000 circulation found publicly held daily newspapers produced higher profit margins than did privately held dailies. Public ownership and higher profits were associated with smaller newsroom staffs. Public ownership was positively related with starting salaries. Also, the presence of competition was positively correlated with newsroom size and starting salary. The impact of profitability on newsroom size was progressively greater for newspapers with higher-than-average profit margins.